Fear of the Unknown
by im-always-laughing
Summary: Harry is experiencing a particularly funny Potions lesson until it takes a horrible turn and he is faced with the biggest adventure of his life. PLEASE READ!


Harry Potter had disorientated in his whole life. Since his first year at Hogwarts he had faced a giant Basilisk, a giant spider, a giant three- headed dog, a troll, and a dragon, he had arch-enemies who would do anything in their power to sabotage his life and he'd even faced, five times, the most feared wizard of recent history, Lord Voldemort, the master- mind behind his parents' death, and come out of each encounter - still breathing. But never before had he been filled with such melancholy.  
  
It had all started Wednesday morning. Every year, Snape's loathing of Harry had grown, and on Wednesday it hit its worst. Harry and Ron had been fooling around, much to Hermione's displeasure, all lesson, making their voices extremely loud, making obscene noises, and then making them normal again. "Sonorous." Harry whispered and then boomed across the dungeon a really long burp. Ron collapsed into fits of laughter for the seventeenth time that day but was abruptly stopped when he saw Snape's pointy feet at the foot of his cauldron. "Quietus." he heard Harry whisper just before Snape's nasal drawl filled the now silent dungeon. "Just because you, Potter, think you are some great hero, does not give you the authority to make disgraceful noises in my class room what-so-ever. One would hope that you are not using what little intelligence you have to make obscene noises in my dungeon. If I hear one more noise out of you, Potter, or you, Weasley, for that matter, I will personally feed you to that beast of a thing, Hagrid. He is such a foul monster that he would probably even eat vermin like you." At that he turned and in the air of his departure he left his never felt more greasy stench. All the Slytherins burst into loud shouts of laughter, much to the Gryffindors annoyance. First to speak up as Harry's aid was Seamus. "Hey, don't worry 'Arry, he's a slimy freak." "Yeah, don't listen to him!" said Neville. Although Neville was truly sincere, if you tried to tell Neville this after one of Snape's lectures about how clumsy and stupid he was, it definitely did not have the same desired effect it now had on Harry. Hermione shot both Harry and Ron a look that said "I told you so." but they ignored her. They were quite used to this now and they knew she would get over her pompousness by the end of class. "Idiot." flinched Ron, "Who does he think he is?" Ron turned to Harry, awaiting his reply but instead his attention was drawn to a malicious- looking Malfoy standing behind his friend with his wand at Harry's neck. Before Ron could say anything, Malfoy had whispered "Sonorous." and Harry's response was now being broadcast out to the whole dungeon. "Filthy, slimy freak. It's a wonder, with such a big nose that he can't smell his own stench. He belongs at St. Mungo's... Or even at St. Brutus' Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys...." he added as an afterthought. Waiting for Ron's reply, Harry noticed that Ron looked more frantic than he's ever seen him and shot a look around the dungeon and was faced with looks of horror and surprise. Ron quickly recited the reverse spell for sonorous and frantically whispered at Harry to just run for it, but before Harry could even gather his books and quills, Snape was back and looking at Harry with more loathing than ever before. "Excuse me, Potter? Would you care to tell me what you happen to think of me once more?" "No, not really." said Harry, sounding one hundred percent braver than he felt. "And if you'll excuse me, I've got better things to do than stick around being lectured by you." And with that, heart pounding, he stood up and turned for the dungeon door. But before he could get there, a cold hand enclosed over his shoulder and from behind him somewhere surprisingly close to his neck a cold breath formed the words: "The only place you're going, Potter, is back to the Dursley's."  
  
Professor McGonagall had fallen ill precisely one week before and as the position of acting-head of Gryffindor house, Snape had stepped up. Dumbledore had decided that with Professor McGonagall gone for a short amount of time, Snape would not have the chance to punish, or worse, expell anyone. But, Dumbledore had been called out on very important Ministry business which meant Snape had Harry's fate in his hands. Before Harry even knew what was going on, he was on the Hogwart's Express, all alone, heading back the the Dursleys forever. He had been expelled from Hogwarts. No more Quidditch, no more midnight trips to the kitchens with Ron under the invisabilty cloak, no more DA meetings, no more thrashings by Ron at wizard chess, no more Hogsmeade weekends, and Christmas, Halloween, Easter, start of term, and end of term feasts were now a thing of the past. He was leaving Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Hagrid, Seamus, Dean, Neville, Cho, Nearly- Headless Nick, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall behind. Everyone who mattered to him - behind.  
  
It was then that it struck him - it was Malfoy. Malfoy had done this. Malfoy had torn him away from him best friends. Malfoy had ripped him away from his first girlfriend - renched him away from everything that meant anything to him, and if there was one thing that Harry had promised himself to do, right then and there, it was to get Malfoy back. He didn't care when, he didn't care how, but that's all he could think about as the train he was sitting in rambled further south, transporting him ever-closer to his frightful fate. Which, he decided, was far worse than facing a giant Basilisk, a giant spider, a giant, three-headed dog, a troll, and a dragon, far worse than having arch-enemies who would do anything in their power to sabotage his life and even worse than having faced the most feared wizard of recent history, Lord Voldemort, five times. It was then that the tears began to fall. He couldn't stop them, although he didn't even try, and they only subsided when the train slowed to a jerking stop at Platform 9 and 3/4. Harry entered the muggle world at 5:30pm that night and decided he'd pass his first night at The Leaky Cauldron. In the morning, he'd go and get some money from Gringott's and then catch the Knight Bus to the Dursley's the next morning. But what he met, ten minutes later when he walked into The Leaky Cauldron, was far from what he had expected...  
  
To Be Continued... 


End file.
